


Chemistry

by Escapefromwonderland



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, I'm sorry if this is bad, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, My First Work in This Fandom, Puppy Kara Danvers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-31 02:33:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13965471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Escapefromwonderland/pseuds/Escapefromwonderland
Summary: The first time it happened it was a complete accident, Lena was sure that it was an honest mistake her lab partner made. Even the second and third times seemed to simply be Lena’s daily dose of misfortune. Maybe it was the fact that the fourth time it happened was slightly more painful and a little more terrifying than all the other times, but Lena was starting to get the feeling that someone had to be messing with her. Lena was almost positive that her lab partner had it out for her. There was no other way to explain the constant chemical explosions and messes her lab partner created.





	Chemistry

The first time it happened it was a complete accident, Lena was sure that it was an honest mistake her lab partner made. Even the second and third times seemed to simply be Lena’s daily dose of misfortune. Maybe it was the fact that the fourth time it happened was slightly more painful and a little more terrifying than all the other times, but Lena was starting to get the feeling that someone had to be messing with her. Lena was almost positive that her lab partner had it out for her. There was no other way to explain the constant chemical explosions and messes her lab partner created.  

 

Lena was not naive enough to believe that there was anyone in National City University who did not know of her family's name and did not resent her for the fact that her last name was Luthor. The apprehensive stares her teachers give her when she walks into their class the first day of the semester, the way many of her peers leave a wide gap between them and her, the few brave souls who sneer at her in the hallways, Lena was aware of just how much everyone thought her to be a monster. As a Luthor, she was taught to replace less “desirable” emotions with a cool and callous mask of indifference. She kept her mask on tight, head held high, and sped walked through hallways, getting to her classes or dorm as quick as possible. Lena knew people didn't like her, though she was used to it, it still hurt a small piece of her, but what scared her more was the part of her that felt pride when someone cowered away from her in the halls, a small sense of satisfaction every time she made a person resort to stuttering. She was a Luthor, a synonym for monster. So, it struck Lena that the only reason the personification of sunshine kept destroying all her lab shirts and coats with the sheer number of chemical explosions, was her last name.  

 

// 

 

The first time it happened Lena was not expecting it. It was already a week into the semester when her chemistry teacher, Ms. Vasquez announced the first lab of the semester. Lena was double majoring in biochemistry and engineering so, the lab did not intimidate her as it did the rest of the class. Ms. Vasquez was infamous for her harsh grading methods and her stance on lab partners, once they were assigned, there was no chance to switch. 

 

“The lab partners are listed on the back whiteboard; the lab objective is also written there. Quit staring at me and move!” Ms. Vasquez’s words echoed throughout the laboratory room as students scrambled to make it to the back whiteboard. Lena slowly walked over to the board, waiting for the crowd of people to disperse so, she could see which person got stuck with having her as their partner. Lena wasn't a bad lab partner by any stretch, but the Luthor reputation made working with her a scandalous affair. Lena hated partner work, but she needed this class to take Advanced Biochemistry next semester. On the whiteboard, in clear script, next to her name, was the name Kara Danvers. Now, Lena tended to stay far away from the insidious gossip that surrounds the university, but even she knows of the younger Danvers sister. Kara Danvers was the most well-liked person in the university, she was always smiling or laughing around her group of friends. Lena had never had to interact with Kara, but she had classes with the elder Danvers sister her freshman year. Kara walked to a lab table, her gait almost mirrored skipping; Lena had no choice but to follow the excited girl. Grabbing the graduated cylinders and the test tubes full of either hydrogen peroxide or sodium iodide, Lena carefully walked up to the table Kara was occupying. 

 

“So, partner, what do we do first?” The blondes asked a smile on her face. Lena returned the smile with a tiny smile, maybe this partnership wouldn't be so bad. As soon as Lena gave the hydrogen peroxide to Kara to hold, a student bumped into Kara, sending the test tube’s content towards Lena. A few drops of the peroxide landed in the test tube Lena was holding. Lena let out a quiet sigh, thinking to herself how her luck could be so poor. The moment the peroxide hit the iodide foam grew rapidly, spewing all over Lena and her brand new white shirt. Today was not her day. Kara stood perfectly still, her eyes were drawn to Lena’s ruined blouse, red made its way to her cheeks as she tried to stammer out an apology.  

“Oh Rao, I'm so sorry Lena… I should have held the test tube tighter. I’ll get the paper towels and clean this all up. I’m so sorry.”  Kara looked so distraught while she frantically zipped around the classroom to gather a massive pile of crumpled paper towels, Lena found herself feeling bad for her, and it really wasn't her fault. 

 

“Wow Luthor, foam looks good on you.” Lena felt herself bristle at the sound of one of the most annoying people on campus’s voice. The voice belonged to none other than Maxwell Lord. She truly resented Max. When she was forced by her mother to attend events, Maxwell was always there, teasing and taunting her. When she was 12 there was even talks of her eventually marrying him so Luthor Corp and Lord Technologies could merge into one company, thankfully the Lord’s always resented Lena and did not want her to poison the mind of their beloved son. Maxwell Lord did not grow out of his pretentiousness and instead grew more arrogant since enrolling in NCU. In layman terms, he was an asshole. So, it was no surprise to Lena that he was to blame for the accident.  

It was only when she stopped glaring at him that she realized, her lab partner also sent him a glare. It almost made Lena chuckle, a cute puppy of a person trying to glare, but there was steel in Kara’s eyes and she did not wish to be glared at. Lena looked down at her blouse to assess the damage and to her embarrassment, the foam that she immediately wiped off left most of her shirt transparent. Suddenly the stares she was receiving intensified and to Lena’s horror, she felt a blush make its way up her neck and her cheeks. She spared her apologetic lab partner one last look before she quickly left the room, not even bothering to ask the teacher.  

 

It wasn't till she made her way to her dorm room and changed her shirt that she truly processed what happened. Flopping face down on her bed, Lena let out an unladylike groan into her pillows. Before she ended up dozing off, she thought of how flustered her lab partner was and she did something she hadn't done in a while, she chuckled, the chuckling turned in to full body laughter. Later if you asked Lena want she laughed so much, she would claim it was due to exhaustion. She never even thought about the fact that Kara used a word not in the English dictionary when she stuttered out an apology. 

 

// 

 

The second and third time it happened, Lena was already having an awful day. She overslept and woke up to a very angry call from her mother. Her mother, the infamous Lillian Luthor, was a tactician, plotting every move to get her way. Lena wanted to hate her, but a part of her, the very same small part of her that loved the way people cowered away from her, loved her mother. Her mother “asked” Lena if she would attend a gala to, in her words, “show the world the Luthor family is a strong united front”. Lex’s case went to court a month ago and even with the best attorneys her money could buy, Lex was thrown in jail. After the monstrous phone call, Lena ran into Maxwell Lord who, of course could not pass up the opportunity to ridicule her. The two of them always did the same dance, they would trade barbs through niceties and smile as if the mere thought of pleasantly conversing doesn’t make them sick. All in all, Lena was having a bad day. 

 

Lena was forced to run to chemistry just to be on time which garnered a multitude of looks from her peers, ranging from fear to something that almost resembled pity. When she made it to class her cheeks were flushed and there was a slight sheen to her skin. Lena was not in any way out of shape but running across campus in such a short time was difficult. Luckily, her lab partner already had the necessary materials for the lab. Today, the university was partnering with the local elementary school to teach kids the wonders of science. Each group of students were responsible for doing a cool yet simple experiment and the group that the kids like the most got extra credit on their next exam. Kara and Lena ended up with the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano and Lena was happy to note that Lord’s group was on the complete opposite side of the room so, her blouse should be safe today. Lena pasted on her Luthor smile that she perfected after far too many galas and addressed the curious eyes of 8 elementary students. Before she could even speak Kara stole the show. Her eyes were alight with happiness as she explained the lab to the children.

 

“How many of you like superheroes?” After that one question 8 tiny excited hands rose, and Kara’s smile grew brighter. “Well, science allows people to have powers just like the coolest superhero ever, Superman! Today we are creating an ultimate explosion!” Throughout the room high pitched giggles were heard as the kids seemed to soak in Kara’s infectious positivity, even Lena’s smile became less strained. The experiment started well, Kara measured out the baking soda and vinegar and for once, Lena felt confident that nothing would go wrong, but it was as if the universe heard her thoughts and decided it hasn’t done enough today to fuck with her. She was holding the base of the model volcano while Kara was responsible for pouring the vinegar in. Lena watched carefully as Kara poured the vinegar in with a look of pure concentration, her tongue sticking out making Lena stifle a girlish giggle, either Kara had super good hearing or she simply knew whenever Lena was actually in a relatively good mood, either way as soon as the embarrassing noise made it out of Lena’s throat bright blue eyes met green and Kara’s smile stretched wider. Apparently, Kara and Lena should have been paying better attention as Kara dumped way too much vinegar and caused the volcano to erupt violently and of course, this meant Lena was caught in the crossfire. Once again, her shirt was ruined. Kara of course was immediately apologizing and, in her haste, to get paper towels she reached over the lab table and ended up spilling the remaining vinegar and baking soda directly onto Lena who was too shocked to react. After regaining some semblance of the situation Lena feels the dreaded heat climb to her cheeks as even the young kids laugh at her misfortune. Kara begins to frantically ramble out apologies.

“Oh, my Lena! I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize… and this is like the third time this has happened, and I wasn’t trying to I swear! I must have lost focus. I can totally pay for a new shirt. Not that you couldn’t of course, your family is rich after all. Not that I know anything about your family, nope, nothing at all. I am so sorry!” Lena could see that Kara was not going to stop anytime soon so, she awkwardly patted Kara’s shoulder and tried to assure her.

“Really Kara, it’s nothing to worry over. I don’t really like this shirt anyway.” Lena was lying through her teeth, currently she was wearing one of her favorite blouses made of a soft silk that she got on her trip to Egypt, but Kara’s rambling still hadn’t ceased and there was no way she was going to tell her just how much she likes the shirt. Ms. Vasquez gave her permission to leave class early and Lena gladly took the opportunity to quickly make her exit. Once safe in her dorm room she quickly changes into much comfier clothes that her mother would not approve of. She then decided that she might as well treat herself a little and dug out her container of mint chocolate chip ice cream and a silver spoon. Just as she is starting to ravenously dig into her ice cream there is a knock on her door followed by the sound of quick footsteps. Lena sighs and gets up off her couch to face whatever is waiting for her on the other side of the door. Freshmen year Lena was the target of multiple ding dong ditches, but by now they have died down a bit so, she was surprised someone dared to go anywhere near her dorm. Opening the door Lena saw nothing on her doorstep but, out of the corner of her eye she saw a small sticky note attached to the door. In a relaxed scrawl the note read as follows: Sorry about your shirt! We won the class competition J . The note could only be from one person and that thought made a tiny smile curl upon her face.

//

Lena was tired. And sick. For the past week she has had a cold that seems to only be getting worse as time goes on. Lena hated going to the doctor, it was not like she was afraid of the doctor, it had to do with the fact that she hated being told to take a break, but her nausea and her killer headache made her schedule an appointment. On her way out, she quite literally ran into someone. That someone was Alex Danvers, the older Danvers sister and frankly, the more intimidating one. Alex Danvers was known around campus to be brilliant, but a bit of a partier and more importantly, super protective of her younger sister. Even in her weakened state Lena simply raised an eyebrow at the brown-haired girl who was glaring fiercely at her.

“Alex Danvers, what a pleasure it is to see you. Can you tell me what brought you to my doorstep?” Lena hoped her false bravado would be enough to speed this confrontation up, so she could get to the doctor’s office. Alex’s face scrunched up and her glare only intensified.

“What did you do to my sister?” The question was menacing if Lena was being honest but, she simply frowned, not understanding what the eldest Danvers was implying. Alex appeared to get even more agitated and Lena was shocked to see Alex reach out to trap her wrist and take a menacing step forward.

“I assure you, Danvers I have no clue what you are speaking of.” As a Luthor Lena has nearly perfected the art of cool indifference and lying, however, she was rendered unable to come up with a response to end this awkward situation. She tried to get out of Alex’s grip but ultimately failed.

“Listen Luthor, my sister has been talking about you nonstop for the last month, but ever since last week there has been nothing! Complete radio silence! So, now I need you to tell me what you did to my sister?!” Honestly, Lena had no clue what the older Danvers sister was talking about. Since when did she interact with Kara? The only time Kara and her interacted was in chemistry where Kara seemed to have an affinity for ruining Lena’s shirts. Luckily a small brunette came out of nowhere and put her arm on Alex’s bicep halting her glare for a second. The small dimpled brunette seemed familiar but, Lena couldn’t place her. “What do you think you are doing Maggie?” Alex said gritting her teeth, her grip slightly tightening on Lena’s wrist. The petit brunette simply smiled up at Alex, her dimple becoming even more pronounced.

“Little Danvers is calling you; you shouldn’t keep her waiting.” Alex mutters an expletive under her breath, but finally she lets go of Lena and takes a step back, storming out of sight. Maggie says a quick goodbye and sends Lena a wink before she goes after her. Lena is left confused and late for her doctor’s appointment. Her wrist is red and yep, that is definitely going to bruise.

//

She was right, the next morning her wrist was bruised. What was with the Danvers sisters interacting with Lena? First, the blonde Danvers spills and explodes things all over her and then, the older Danvers come storming into her personal space and bruises her wrist. Lena is dreading going to chemistry, she really didn’t want to see Kara. If Kara was upset with Lena as Alex implied she was she hoped they weren’t working with any material that could explode on her. When Lena got to class she was a tad nervous apparently, they were doing a lab on different substances flammability so, if Kara was out to get her, today would be painful. Lena approached the lab table where Kara was fiddling with her glasses and tapping a quick rhythm onto the smooth surface. Kara already had the materials for the lab and Lena gazed at the matches warily. Lena and Kara worked in awkward silence. The lab was simple enough, it was just about measuring the color of flames produced by different elements. Lena was lighting a match when she felt a laser like gaze on her wrist. She looks at Kara with her eyebrow raised but the blonde remained focus on her bruised wrist.    

“If you stare any harder then you are going to burn a hole in me.”  Lena attempted a joke but, Kara paled at the statement and looked at Lena with fear in her eyes.

“What…pshh yeah right it’s not like I have heat vision or anything. That would be totally weird, I’m just normal, average Kara Danvers, nothing special here. Is your wrist okay? It looks really bruised. Did someone hurt you? Not that you need to tell me or anything. You probably have loads of people to talk about stuff to.” Lena was a little baffled at Kara’s response. Was she that intimidating that every time she tried to talk to Kara that she was reduced to rambling?

“Kara, I’m fine. It was just a misunderstanding. Be careful with that flaming copper it’s really hot.” Kara was holding the container of the green flame that the copper is producing. Lena watched it happen in slow motion, Kara stepped on the shoelaces of her own converses and the container of flaming copper was flung at Lena who reacted quickly, shucking off her lab coat that was slightly burnt by the fire. The teacher took the fire blanket out of the safety cabinet and smothered the fire till only the smell of smoke remained. Kara was by Lena’s side in a second rambling out apology after apology but, Lena was too shaken to respond. It was almost as if Kara had it out for her, spilling stuff on her was one thing but almost setting her on fire was in a whole other ballpark. As a Luthor she was used to facing persecution and when she first came to university she was beaten up badly by a couple of anti-Luthor extremists but being set on fire was a whole new ordeal.

“I’m fine Kara! Just leave me alone!” Lena yelled scurrying away, away from the obnoxious laughter of Maxwell Lord, away from the look of pity that Ms. Vasquez is sending her and most importantly, from Kara whose eyes look glossy. Lena needed air, she needed to run, so she did. She changed into her sweats and ran; ran around the outside of the campus, ran to get a coffee, black with soy milk. Lena craved the bitterness of the drink, it grounded her to reality. Lena went back to her dorm room significantly less frazzled than when she left it, but Lena still needed to take the edge off her day so, she decided to crack open a bottle of scotch that she kept hidden in her room. The scotch would help her sleep, and sleep was what she needed most right now. Just as she began to drift off there was a loud knock on her door. Lena contemplated letting the person on the door tire themselves out and just not answer the door.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for reading, I hoped you enjoyed. Any and all feedback is welcome :)


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